My new classes were about vastly less stressful today. I got out of math, which leaves me with English, Journalism, History, Photography and Law. I'm actually quite excited.
That doesn't mean that I'm not scared of about 22 out of 30 people in my law class. We had an ice breaker where we'd pair up and have our partner introduce us to the teacher and the class including details like our favourite music, movies, books, activities, things of that general stream. I was one of the two people who thought Harry Potter was worth a notable mention in the multiple blanks under "Favourite books." * I can't relate to large groups of people who don't have reasonable appreciation for Harry Potter, or even worse, say "I don't read because (insert moronic excuse here)." Someone put Cosmopolitanism as their favourite book and I cringed appropriately. All the girls already seem cliquey, and considering the stated overwhelming interest in things I could not care less about, I'm ok with that. There's probably about three or four guys I'd consider talking to at any point. At least this ice breaker narrowed down who I'm willing to befriend in the class. Gosh, I sound judgmental right now but Law definitely attracts an assortment of sketchy characters who want to know what they can legally get away with and/or an easy credit.
Today was the temporary music teacher's first choir practice. She is actually the most adorable human being and, as Will pointed out after choir, has features and expressions that are eerily similar to Dory from Finding Nemo. She's also petite, uses strange voices sometimes, wears cute dresses with cardigans and is the epitome of whimsical. Maegan and I audibly squealed about half a dozen times when she said something adorable. I think she won everyone's heart between beginning choir by telling everyone to give the person beside us a back massage, then by telling us we could ask her any questions we wanted. She was met with a barrage of "What's your favourite color?" (green), "Cats or Dogs?" (both), "Favourite Sean Connery movie?" (she liked him in Indiana Jones) and "Who shot first? Han or Greedo?" (she reenacted part of the scene and I was so impressed I forget the conclusion that followed). I'm partially convinced she's not a real person but rather a cartoon character sent to bring the world joy and smiles.
* The other person to write Harry Potter down was Reeves's younger brother, who has an assortment of ventures to his name, such as during the fall when he attended a football game while quite intoxicated, which wouldn't be notable if he hadn't been the school mascot for the night. (I swear, there's only a small, limited group of people at my school who try to get away with going to school activities drunk, a disclaimer I thought I should state considering this is the third incident I've mentioned of this sort in the past few months.)
Hearts,
-J-
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Enough hours in a day?
How am I suppose to fill out a ton of scholarship applications for March 1st, prepare "Hamlet" and Fifth Business to the point that I can do an oral commentary on either one at the drop of a hat, finish my section of yearbook for February 18th, work three to four shifts a week, keep up with regular homework, and be in transit to or from/at school from 8am to 4pm five days a week? How am I suppose to keep my sanity in the midst of all this? Not to mention that I have an issue with actually getting things accomplished and I have like 20000 things hanging over my head at any given moment.
Not to mention that my ego hurts a lot from getting exam marks back today. It's not that my marks are particularly bad, but rather I didn't do as well as I was depending on for the sake of entrance scholarships for university. These are the marks that go on the transcript, and I could feel my peers' dreams being squashed around me. My English teacher handed back three major assignments, critiqued them harshly with a sunny smile, and told us what we're in for during our last semester of IB English. My math mark dropped 11% after my exam. That is a painful percentage, especially when my math teacher was vocally disappointed with me. I also learned that my mark of 95% in co-op is essentially useless to me in transcripts, as both places I'm applying don't accept it as a legitimate course. It was a fun day for all the 12th graders with long term plans, as they were probably bashed around at least a little bit. I spent the day looking forlorn and occasionally tossing an offending object, such as a math exam or calculator, on the nearest floor or table. I deal with stress well, you see.
At least most of my classes don't appear taxing this semester. My afternoons of Law and Photography don't seem either intimidating or time consuming. I'm also considering of transferring out of Advanced Math into Journalism to more or less troll the joke of a school paper while throwing in a few 'published' pieces to my name and also because taking more math gains me nothing at this point - one of the joys of going into arts. Despite my assortment of bird courses, I'm convinced that English will kill me. To get through this, I need to be a level of brilliant I didn't know I could be. I've never felt more ill prepared or equipped for a task.
I think the last time I wasn't stressed was a few days around Christmas. My life is ridiculous.
Hearts,
-J-
Not to mention that my ego hurts a lot from getting exam marks back today. It's not that my marks are particularly bad, but rather I didn't do as well as I was depending on for the sake of entrance scholarships for university. These are the marks that go on the transcript, and I could feel my peers' dreams being squashed around me. My English teacher handed back three major assignments, critiqued them harshly with a sunny smile, and told us what we're in for during our last semester of IB English. My math mark dropped 11% after my exam. That is a painful percentage, especially when my math teacher was vocally disappointed with me. I also learned that my mark of 95% in co-op is essentially useless to me in transcripts, as both places I'm applying don't accept it as a legitimate course. It was a fun day for all the 12th graders with long term plans, as they were probably bashed around at least a little bit. I spent the day looking forlorn and occasionally tossing an offending object, such as a math exam or calculator, on the nearest floor or table. I deal with stress well, you see.
At least most of my classes don't appear taxing this semester. My afternoons of Law and Photography don't seem either intimidating or time consuming. I'm also considering of transferring out of Advanced Math into Journalism to more or less troll the joke of a school paper while throwing in a few 'published' pieces to my name and also because taking more math gains me nothing at this point - one of the joys of going into arts. Despite my assortment of bird courses, I'm convinced that English will kill me. To get through this, I need to be a level of brilliant I didn't know I could be. I've never felt more ill prepared or equipped for a task.
I think the last time I wasn't stressed was a few days around Christmas. My life is ridiculous.
Hearts,
-J-
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
My nerd heart rejoices.
Upon arriving at King's at quarter to ten yesterday, I was terrified because as of lately, I've reserved my greatest moments of panic for (1) the thoughts of IB exams and furthermore (2) any thoughts of university and what decisions I must make between now and August.
A few months ago, I briefly made progress with the university thing when I finally definitively decided on the program I want to take (Journalism) and then proceeded to narrow my search down to two universities, both with distinct advantages which made them come out pretty even in my mind. This made for quite a frustrating situation.
Considering one of the universities I had only ever seen on paper, my parents planned a trip to Halifax this weekend and these few days between semesters. University of King's College surprised me with something: it is practically perfect in every way. I actually fell in love with it. I shit you not, this place is the most happy place I've ever stepped foot in. King's is a miniature campus in the corner of the much larger Dalhousie campus, and in my eyes, a little arts haven with really pretty buildings. The two students giving us a tour won my heart a little more by throwing the occasional Harry Potter reference into their spiel. But one of the HP references, considering that the guy who is head of residence, who literally puts people in houses has the last name Hatt, the nickname 'The Sorting Hatt' was more or less inevitable.
We sat in on a first year lecture on Kant and metaphysics where my mom alternated between looking at the floor and the ceiling and my dad wikipediaed Kant. I found out that I'm more knowledgeable about metaphysics than I originally thought. The lecturer repeatedly dropped pens to demonstrate his points about metaphysics and I particularly liked when he stated that Kant wasn't freaking out about pens, but rather the existence of God and "Now that's something that can keep you up at night." I love metaphysics and lectures and bah it's all so beautiful.
Everything about that school is small, a little eccentric, and about independent thinking. The students definitely give off that vibe, as they look like the epitome of arts students. Everyone in first year has four out of five classes together and the curriculum isn't conventionally set up into different classes, but rather so that everyone in the entire first year reads a ton of literature, beginning at ancient Mesopotamia and working up through the ages until modern times. Then, all together, the first year students have lectures about the texts examining them from points of view from English to Philosophy to Sociology to History to whatever else they can come up with. After the lectures, they divide into tutor groups of around fifteen people plus a mediator for discussion of the texts and lectures. For the papers that are due every two weeks, they want you to write about your thoughts without using any secondary sources. I've had years of IB English to prepare me for this and I'm excited. Also, for the Journalism program, the majority of the forth year is an internship. My nerd heart rejoices.
Also, they aren't super big on sports like STU seems to be which makes me feel a bit more at home, as I don't sports. Some of King's notable clubs/societies were the Doctor Who Society and the Communist Knitting Society. I think that was a deciding moment when I heard about those. I'm a foolish human being like that but I feel you guys understand the bond of passionate Whovians. Theater and music are also a big thing there and even though I'm not planning on taking those, there seems to be plenty of extracurricular opportunities in those.
The biggest problem that I see with this is whether I'll be able to keep a job in university with my very likely booked tight schedule. I suppose I have a few months to figure that out. I theoretically want to keep a job so (1) I'm not dirt poor through all of university and (2) I'd feel pretty damn guilty if I didn't contribute to the seventeen grand for each year of school. But I also feel, if it happens that I can't humanly maintain all my activities, it would be a bit of a dick move if my manager and I went through the hassle of transferring my job to a Halifax location and then I decide "Nope. Can't deal." But there's a high possibility that there are just not enough hours in a day for my life.
And dear Lord, seventeen grand. $17 000. I'm crossing my fingers for lots of scholarships. That's roughly a $5000 difference from STU but my parents are fine with it on the terms that I work hard for those scholarships.
However, it does feel good to finally know for sure where I want to go next year, just knowing the pros and cons instead of weighing them against another option. That's a weight off my chest. And as soon as I get to school tomorrow, I can apply to send a transcript with my most recent marks on it.
Hearts,
-J-
A few months ago, I briefly made progress with the university thing when I finally definitively decided on the program I want to take (Journalism) and then proceeded to narrow my search down to two universities, both with distinct advantages which made them come out pretty even in my mind. This made for quite a frustrating situation.
Considering one of the universities I had only ever seen on paper, my parents planned a trip to Halifax this weekend and these few days between semesters. University of King's College surprised me with something: it is practically perfect in every way. I actually fell in love with it. I shit you not, this place is the most happy place I've ever stepped foot in. King's is a miniature campus in the corner of the much larger Dalhousie campus, and in my eyes, a little arts haven with really pretty buildings. The two students giving us a tour won my heart a little more by throwing the occasional Harry Potter reference into their spiel. But one of the HP references, considering that the guy who is head of residence, who literally puts people in houses has the last name Hatt, the nickname 'The Sorting Hatt' was more or less inevitable.
We sat in on a first year lecture on Kant and metaphysics where my mom alternated between looking at the floor and the ceiling and my dad wikipediaed Kant. I found out that I'm more knowledgeable about metaphysics than I originally thought. The lecturer repeatedly dropped pens to demonstrate his points about metaphysics and I particularly liked when he stated that Kant wasn't freaking out about pens, but rather the existence of God and "Now that's something that can keep you up at night." I love metaphysics and lectures and bah it's all so beautiful.
Everything about that school is small, a little eccentric, and about independent thinking. The students definitely give off that vibe, as they look like the epitome of arts students. Everyone in first year has four out of five classes together and the curriculum isn't conventionally set up into different classes, but rather so that everyone in the entire first year reads a ton of literature, beginning at ancient Mesopotamia and working up through the ages until modern times. Then, all together, the first year students have lectures about the texts examining them from points of view from English to Philosophy to Sociology to History to whatever else they can come up with. After the lectures, they divide into tutor groups of around fifteen people plus a mediator for discussion of the texts and lectures. For the papers that are due every two weeks, they want you to write about your thoughts without using any secondary sources. I've had years of IB English to prepare me for this and I'm excited. Also, for the Journalism program, the majority of the forth year is an internship. My nerd heart rejoices.
Also, they aren't super big on sports like STU seems to be which makes me feel a bit more at home, as I don't sports. Some of King's notable clubs/societies were the Doctor Who Society and the Communist Knitting Society. I think that was a deciding moment when I heard about those. I'm a foolish human being like that but I feel you guys understand the bond of passionate Whovians. Theater and music are also a big thing there and even though I'm not planning on taking those, there seems to be plenty of extracurricular opportunities in those.
The biggest problem that I see with this is whether I'll be able to keep a job in university with my very likely booked tight schedule. I suppose I have a few months to figure that out. I theoretically want to keep a job so (1) I'm not dirt poor through all of university and (2) I'd feel pretty damn guilty if I didn't contribute to the seventeen grand for each year of school. But I also feel, if it happens that I can't humanly maintain all my activities, it would be a bit of a dick move if my manager and I went through the hassle of transferring my job to a Halifax location and then I decide "Nope. Can't deal." But there's a high possibility that there are just not enough hours in a day for my life.
And dear Lord, seventeen grand. $17 000. I'm crossing my fingers for lots of scholarships. That's roughly a $5000 difference from STU but my parents are fine with it on the terms that I work hard for those scholarships.
However, it does feel good to finally know for sure where I want to go next year, just knowing the pros and cons instead of weighing them against another option. That's a weight off my chest. And as soon as I get to school tomorrow, I can apply to send a transcript with my most recent marks on it.
Hearts,
-J-
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
87.5% done
I survived my exams. I'm glad they only lasted a day and a half, mostly because I think if I had anymore, I would have a blister between my thumb and index finger and my hand might permanently cramp into an involuntary pen holding position.
I have one semester left of high school. I'm 87.5% done high school. Damn right I did the math.
Now I have three days with nothing to really do. I slept until 11am today for no particular reason. I'm trying to avoid going outside because it's -20 out: the sort of cold where I evolve into a pile of mismatched knits and when I go outside the small portion of my face exposed to the wind is still cold to the point of hurting. It was shock to step inside and breath air that wasn't unfathomably cold.
It's so cold that people avoid going out and work was beyond dead last night, so dead that my shift and I read the health code book in an attempt to find something to do that wasn't cleaning/drinking lots of tea while on the floor to warm up my frozen core. It wasn't quite as dead during a snowstorm last Saturday. That day, eventually my shift and I gave up on fighting to find mundane tasks to keep busy and made ourselves drinks, leaned on the counter and ate sandwiches that were about to expire.
I hate post Christmas winter and I hope something interesting happens soon because nothing usually does and I get bored of everything until spring happens and I can wear pretty clothes and go outside without falling or freezing.Why can't I just live by the equator. Actually, I did live by the equator one time and it was awesome.
Hearts,
-J-
I have one semester left of high school. I'm 87.5% done high school. Damn right I did the math.
Now I have three days with nothing to really do. I slept until 11am today for no particular reason. I'm trying to avoid going outside because it's -20 out: the sort of cold where I evolve into a pile of mismatched knits and when I go outside the small portion of my face exposed to the wind is still cold to the point of hurting. It was shock to step inside and breath air that wasn't unfathomably cold.
 |
| I had this, a winter coat and boots and I was still really damn cold. |
I hate post Christmas winter and I hope something interesting happens soon because nothing usually does and I get bored of everything until spring happens and I can wear pretty clothes and go outside without falling or freezing.Why can't I just live by the equator. Actually, I did live by the equator one time and it was awesome.
Hearts,
-J-
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